Alright! Today we
look at another unique game on the list called Moon Patrol, a 1982
Run and gun Vehicular combat game developed by Irem. It's quite
possibly the first of it's genre.
In this game you
take the role of a Luna City police officer assigned to Sector Nine,
the roughest toughest area of the moon. You control a moon buggy that
travels over the moon's surface. Your goal is to make it to the end
of each coarse while avoiding craters, UFOs and other obstacles along
the way.
At first glance Moon
Patrol looks fairly laid back. You're in a slow moving moon buggy
jumping over or shooting through obstacles and shooting down UFOs.
Just by reading the description and looking at screenshots, I almost
thought it was a PC game. Maybe something along the lines of
Choplifter. So when I saw that it was an arcade game, I was a little
surprised. Due to the extremely competitive nature of arcades, most
of the time arcade games need to be fast paced and action packed in
order to keep pre-pubesent kids from getting bored and moving on to
play Galaga for the forty millionth time. But believe me when I say
that Moon Patrol is no slouch when it comes to shoot em up action.
Sure, it might not be Centipede, but combine the SMUP style of
classics like Galaga, with the side scrolling action of Scramble or
Defender, and topped off with a driving sim that hasn't been seen on
the list yet, and you have a recipe for a unique and refreshing take
on conventional arcade games.
The graphics are
decent, you can tell that pixel art is starting to become more
complex as people are starting to realize what you can do with it.
The colors aren't obnoxious like a lot of arcade games at the time
were. Plus, to top it off, this game introduced Parallax scrolling to
video games, a pretty big step forward in terms of graphical
presentation. The controls are simple, just a joystick that controls
your speed, and buttons for jumping, and shooting. I also really
liked the setting for each stage. Each one seems to offer something a
little different, just enough to make you look forward to seeing what
comes next. Plus this game has a continue function which is starting
to become more common in arcade games. Something that I really
appreciate.
If I had to point
out some flaws I would say that the music really isn't spectacular.
It's just the same four or so bars played over and over again. I
mean, that was excusable with games like Space Invaders, or even
Donkey Kong as both complimented the atmosphere of their respective
game and for the most part were a product of their time, but
considering the fact that we've heard some really inventive music
from arcade games recently, I think that repetitive music can now be
considered a flaw.
Overall though, the
game is solid, and was a lot of fun to play. I probably won't come
back to it many times like I do with other games like Donkey Kong or
Ms. Pacman, but I'm still glad I played it. If you're looking for a
classic arcade shooter that's not like you're traditional SMUP, go
pick up Robotron 2084. If you've already played Robotron 2084, go
play it again and maybe play this one as well.
Next up: Mr. Do! (Is
that a frickin' clown? Creepy.)
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